Longmont council sends fiber funding issue to ballot

By Scott RochatLongmont Times-Call

Posted:
08/27/2013 10:17:35 PM MDT

Updated:
08/28/2013 12:07:25 PM MDT

Longmont Power and Communications Journeyman Lineman Brad Kaufman, right, and Ground Worker Jon Brunsheen, left, work to splice fiber optic cable near Grande Avenue and Main Street. The City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to ask voters for a $45.3 million bond issue that would roll out a citywide fiber-optic network.
(
Matthew Jonas
)

LONGMONT -- The fiber-optic ballot question has been lit up.

The City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to ask voters for a $45.3 million bond issue that would roll out a citywide fiber-optic network. The city plans to offer 1-gigabit upload and download speeds, fast enough to download an hour of high-definition video in just a few seconds.

If passed by voters, Longmont Power and Communications expects to complete the network in three years. An LPC business plan projects that the costs would be paid back in 11 years; if telecom revenues fall short, electric revenues would be used to support the bond.

"A lot of cities in this country have already rolled out a similar deployment and did it successfully," said resident George Oliver, a founder of the local Friends of Fiber group in support of the issue. "The risks are minimal. The benefits are enormous."

Longmont has had a fiber-optic loop since the 1990s, but a 2005 state law forbade the city from offering retail service on it. That restriction was removed by a city vote in 2011, despite a $419,629 opposition campaign that saw strong backing from the Colorado Cable Telecommunications Association.

Councilman Gabe Santos urged the existing providers -- Comcast and CenturyLink -- to remember that the city already had won the big issue two years ago.

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"If this does not pass, we can still provide service," he said. "It will just take longer to get it done."

Tammy Neher, an area operations manager for CenturyLink, was the sole person to speak against the issue Tuesday. She argued that Longmont already had a competitive telecom environment, that CenturyLink had invested $17 million into the community in the past five years, and that the city was jumping without a plan into an area where many cities had failed.

"In the end, it's the citizens of Longmont who will pay the price," she said.

But aside from that, the residents who came to the microphone were supporters, talking up the businesses that could be supported and recruited, the students who could be aided, and the successes that other communities had achieved.

"Over the last seven years, I've paid $50 a month for speeds that are 1/20 as good as this," resident Jason Sherry said.

"How many times do we have to say yes?" said resident Steve Elliott, who also voted for the 2011 ballot issue. "Hopefully only once more."

Vince Jordan, the city's telecommunications manager, said that 135 municipalities across the country already provide fiber services to homes and business. Even on the Front Range, he said, Longmont wouldn't be alone for long. In November, Centennial residents will vote on whether to allow their city to offer fiber services.

"This is not brand new territory for a municipality," Jordan said. He also noted that LPC already had hooked up 20 businesses to the loop with the resources it had.

"We've installed four on Main Street this week and it's only Tuesday," he said.

Election Day is Nov. 5. The ballot also will include a $31.1 million bond issue for wastewater plant improvements.

SkyTran

The council also voted 6-1 to offer a carefully worded letter of support for SkyTran, a proposed monorail system along Colo. Highway 119 between Longmont and Boulder. The letter calls on the Colorado Department of Transportation to study the option, but does not formally endorse SkyTran or offer any city funding.

"This just says we're OK with consideration of SkyTran," Councilwoman Sarah Levison said. "This is not a ringing endorsement of the technology or anything else."

Councilman Brian Bagley was the only vote against the letter, saying he had too many questions and not enough information.

"I can't think of one instance where the first-to-market eventually won," said Bagley, citing examples such as the VisiCalc spreadsheet, the Newton digital assistant and the de Havilland passenger jet. "That is why I'm concerned about SkyTran. If it doesn't work, what's going to happen when we have a rusted-out SkyTran from here to Boulder? ... I would love to see a business plan."